CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Illinois diving team returns to action on Saturday as they travel to Chicago for the UIC Diving Invite. Competition will be commencing all day on Saturday, and will feature four NCAA Zone Qualifiers from Illinois. The Orange and Blue wil be competing against, UIC, Green Bay, and Milwaukee, Carthage, Lake Forest and UW-Eau Claire with Illinois State dropping out of the invite on Friday.

"We are very excited to be back on the boards competing this weekend," said head diving coach KongRong (KR) Li, "It will be great to get another competition in before the Big Ten Championships so we can tune up the little things." 

All eyes are on sophomore Taylor Michael, who has put up consistent numbers all season, as well as breaking her personal best scores in both diving events multiple times on the year. Michael has qualified for the NCAA Zone meet in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. The other qualifiers who will compete at UIC from Illinois are sophomore Brooke Michael and senior Taylor Shegos. 

Shegos recently returned to the boards last Saturday at Purdue after a 14-month hiatus, where she qualified for the Zone meet in the 1-meter. 

LAST TIME OUT

The Illini fell in their last meet to Purdue, 188-111, with the Illini divers struggling to reach the podium. The Michael twins took third and fourth in the 3-meter, and seventh and eighth in the 1-meter. Despite the struggle, the Orange and Blue reached a silver lining with senior diver Taylor Shegos. Shegos returned to the boards last weekend at Purdue after a 14-month hiatus with injury. Shegos stunned the crowd, qualifying for the NCAA Zone meet in the 1-meter in her first meet back.

FOLLOW THE ILLINI

Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest information on Fighting Illini Swimming and Diving. Follow the Orange and Blue on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for even more coverage.